I'm currently training and studying to become a data analyst via my job, and a lot of the more recent tactical emphasis on corners and long throw-ins in the Premier League reminds me of things I've learned during the training course I've done over the last few months.
Yes, data analysis is just analysing data (duh, it's on the can), but it's also about finding stories within numbers, and finding patterns and pathways through pretty daunting information. And that's what's happened behind the scenes at numerous PL clubs over the last 10-15 years.
Basically, data analysts and coaches at a number of PL (and 2nd tier) teams have realised that corners and throw-ins are, for want of a better word, chaos. Chaos means lots and lots of data. And if you can turn that data into something tangible that's able to be controlled and moulded, you're in luck.
So, for instance, Arsenal have probably looked at all the corners they took between 2020 and 2023. How many from the left, how many from the right, how many resulted in goal-scoring opportunities, how many were caught by the goalkeeper, how many were just headed away by opposition defenders, and so on.
If, say, 25% of their corners were caught by goalkeepers, another 25% were headed away, another 25% were won in the air by an Arsenal player, and then 25% resulted in goals or shots, they'd start focusing on why only 1/4 of their corners were leading to big chances and then start replicating those conditions over and over.
They've realised that if they can block the keeper then that first 25% goes down to, say, 15%. And if they can block defenders then they can free up their attacking runners. And once all that falls into place, the percentage of corners leading to goalscoring opportunities can be increased - and all by finding a pathway through the data.
It's a combination of the old ways of thinking ("Get it in the mixer and get the big man's head on it") and the new ways of thinking ("Let's use data and analytics to try and swing games our way"), which means what you've got is essentially a heightened, more sophisticated form of the tactics Allardyce, Bruce, etc. used to employ.
Spurs, Brentford, Sunderland, etc. and a bunch of other teams have basically followed suit. It's the 2000s Mourinho method of playing the percentages for 90 mins, and forcing as many marginal moments as possible, then having the right weapons to turn those engineered 50/50 moments into goals and wins and trophies, etc.
I don't really know how I feel about it from an aesthetical point of view, but in the end corners and throw-ins are part of the rules and teams should be allowed to win any way they can within those rules. The teams who figure out how to master set-pieces and this new era of faster football will be very hard to catch for 2-3 years.
In the end it's the same thing we did around 2017. Pep realised that, after his first season, PL teams left an awful lot of space in behind, so we got a keeper who was press-resistant, sucked teams into our half without the ball, and then used the speed of De Bruyne, Sane, Aguero, and Sterling to just rip the game away from them.
That's why we were basically impossible to stop during the 17/18 and 18/19 years. We were essentially playing alien football. Then teams got smarter, started practising how to best structure a low block, looking at the spaces we left behind us when we set up camp 35 yards from goal, and we had to learn some new methods to keep winning.
Something will come along in 1-2 years that stops Arsenal, Spurs, etc. from being so dominant at set-pieces. Teams will sign bigger, more muscular goalkeepers; they'll start going to ground easier to con the referee into giving fouls in favour of the defenders; they'll start sticking a man on the touchline to distract the player throwing the ball.
It's all part of how football has always, and will always, change.
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